edit: Newsrama is saying WizardWorld will cancel their plans for an '06 show and look at an open weekend in '07.

•

Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters ran a small item about the Wizard World/HeroesCon thing. It was later removed at the request of Rob Felton, VP Business Development, Wizard Entertainment / Wizard Conventions.

There's been some talk about it, and I guess I'd like to toss my two cents in here, too.

I was wholly expecting Wizard to jump on the spin Monday morning and announce a changed date, a big misunderstanding, overzealous internet overreaction, and that would be that. This didn't happen.

Rich's piece ran, and by the day's end, the WW was removed, as is wholly Rich's perogative. I like Rich. I like Rich a lot. He's as fearless as they come, in my experience, and has, in my second-hand experience, always honored requests to pull pieces, withhold them, or otherwise hold items at the request of the relevant parties. That Rob Felton, VP Business Development, Wizard Entertainment / Wizard Conventions, had contacted him and requested the redaction implied two things to me.

My guesses were that Rich had just been made a Wizard columnist, which may be the case but seems unlikely with the waves he's been known to make, or, more likely, that a retraction/moving of dates/happy ending would come Tuesday, and Wizard was looking to minimize damage and extinguish was would surely be painted as a tempest in a teacup.

As the week winds down and that hasn't happened, it was pointed out to me that there's a third thing that, more likely than not, is the real culprit. And that Rich was crystal clear in his indicating that Rob Felton, VP Business Development, Wizard Entertainment / Wizard Conventions, was the person that requesting the item's removal, would perhaps suggest this.

If you want to bad enough you can find the item elsewhere; far be it from me to run a piece by an author that doesn't want that piece run. There are, however, a lot of questions that someone out there with a journalistic bent and a lack of fear w/r/t blacklisting, should answer. And, again, as it's week's end, nobody (that I've seen-- I may have missed it) seem to be reading between Rich's lines.

So, then. Riddle me this, Batman:

• Has Comicon/San Diego/Whatever its proper name is spoken out publically on the liklihood of WW-LA attempting to "syphon importance" away from San Diego?

• Did Anaheim really make a play for Comicon this year that was as major as was being whispered about on the con floor?

• Has WW contacted Anaheim about doing a show there?

• Would Marvel and DC say that there were "major" announcements at San Diego this year? Will there be "major" announcements at Chicago next weekend?

• Is it public knowledge that Wizard/WizardWorld provide Marvel and DC with "serious discounts for their appearance"? Is it true? If so, what defines, in exact numbers, "serious discounts"? Have Marvel or DC commented on this? Have they been asked? Are other publishers given the same offer or discount? If not, why not? Does Wizard offer any other considerations for Marvel and DC?

• ...What about the assertion that "(T)hey commmit to a number of shows across the country and agree to make headline-making announcements there"? Have Marvel or DC commented on this? Have they been asked? Have other comics press outlets commented on this? Have they been asked?

• Is the relationship between Marvel/DC and Wizard/WizardWorld a "mutally agreeable partnership"? If so, how? Could this be defined as collusion? If not, why not?

• Have other comics press outlets been asked to comment on this? What are the press and promotional connections between Wizard and the Big Two?

• Shelton Drum is a retailer first and a show promoter/runner second. Have other retailers or promoters experienced similar tactics from Wizard?

As we head into Starbucked, Week 2, these are the questions that I would like to see asked, and answered. The larger point of WW vs. HeroesCon have been made, and made clearly, and now we're just in a waiting pattern.

There are bigger questions beneath the surface. Who gains?